I began making jewelry from beads I started collecting many, many years ago while on a trip to the southwest. We ended up in Santa Fe, and I was hooked! I fell in love with southwestern art and beaded jewelry. Early o n I made pieces from beads I collected in that region – seed beads, turquoise, some trade beads, silver, etc.
I love color, texture and design - having at one time majored in graphic design. In recent years I have become much more involved in jewelry making. I’ve been inspired by many artists working in metalwork, wirework, PMC (precious metal clay), off-loom bead weaving and beaded embroidery – and have taken classes from some of the masters. Some might (and do) say I’m obsessed!
My jewelry is an eclectic combination of metalwork, wirework, woven components of fiber and metal, off-loom bead weaving - with some lampwork (mostly one-of-a-kind), and a few African trade beads. I typically do not plan the whole design before I start – it just sort of happens as I go along. I work in copper and silver - mostly copper lately. Each piece is unique – I never repeat a design, although there may be similarities between pieces. I torch, hammer, rivet, fold, hammer, punch, stitch, hammer, oxidize - and just about all but jump up and down on the piece - to get the patina or finish I want - because I prefer the ‘aged’ or organic look.
